The Outsiders 2 Johnny
by A. Troll
Summary: Seven years after Johnny's death, Ponyboy is in college. One night he comes home to find that his appartment has been ransacked... A little out there because it's science fiction.
1. Nothing

_I DON'T OWN THE OUTSIDERS OR ITS CHARACTERS, I DO OWN TYLER WETZLE AND JOHN SMITH_

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THE OUTSIDERS 2; JOHNNY

_CHAPTER 1: NOTHING_  
  
It was seven years to the day that Johnny died. Seven years from that hopeless, life-ending day. I never quite got over everything that happened. Those sorts of scars never heal.  
Life progressed slowly and mildly after that. My grades teeter tottered between passing and failing. Cherry and I had dated briefly when I was sixteen, but we never really became anything more than friends. I guess a part of her died with Bob.  
When I was eighteen, I moved out on my own. Soda Pop and Darry both ran a service station (Curtis Bros.) and Soda was taking a night class on journalism at the community college. When I left, Soda said that if I was ever drafted, the whole army would have to go through him; Darry said he take me up to Canada where we'd hide out. Something about "hiding out" rubbed me the wrong way; I still can't eat baloney.  
So there I was, living in a studio, attending college in Texas. I'm majoring in journalism, just like Soda. I'm still not sure want I want to do for a living, but I might try my hand at a novel.  
Everything thing was regurgitated in a wave of confusion the night of the anniversary of Johnny's death. It was a brisk night and the stars shined clearly in the crisp air. I was walking back to my apartment after a night at the local burger place with some friends. I climbed the stairs of the buildings interior and reached my door. I inserted the key and unlooked the studio's entrance. As I stepped over the threshold and into the darkness, I heard a faint noise, like whispering. I grouped for the light switch as I realized it was wind. The hum of the fluorescent lights started as the room was lit. My studio was in shackles! The glass from the window ceased to be their as the breeze shuffled the pages of my textbooks that had been torn from their seams.  
I heard a soft shuffle behind me, and turned, to find nothing. Then again, the same shuffle from the opposite side of the room. I turned to find, nothing. This time a swish, I turned and caught a glimpse of a sleek shadow dart off to the right. I turned, my eyes in an attempt to follow it, but the lights suddenly blacked out with a crack of thunder. Slowly, the lights pulsed with a dim glow. Sparks fell from the light to my left. A dark figure stood before me, silhouetted by an unseen light.


	2. GTAC

"Hello Mr. Curtis "said the mysterious form, "I imagine you're a bit surprised by our presence." He spoke with a weak English accent.  
A thought flashed in my mind, "What did he mean by 'our presence'?"  
"What I mean by 'our presence'," said the man "is that my colleague is also here with me."  
"Your colle...wait! How'd you know what I wa..."  
"Thinking." He said as he finished my sentence. "But, excuse my rudeness for not introducing us earlier. My name is John Smith.  
"How origi..."  
"Original. Yes but I had to assume a nondeplume to protect my identity from the out side world. As I was saying I am John Smith, and this," he said as a swift shadow scurried across the room under cover of the dim lighting, "is my partner, Tyler Wetzel."  
At that moment, the lights flickered again and a blurry figure appeared to John Smith's left. John stepped forward into the faint light revealing the facial features of a clean cut English man. The blurry profile sharpened and stepped forward into the light.  
When I saw him, my eyes seemed to slip right past Tyler. A haze of shapes and cool colors slid on his skin. He blinked slowly, and his luminous blue eyes showed through his eyelids.  
"Hello," he said, "I must apologize for the state of your apartment," his voice had that can't-quite-seem-to-put-your-finger-on-it sound and hinted at a southern quality, "but it was necessary to search for any further evidence of your ... qualities."  
"My what?" I said in a puzzled tone.  
"Come," said John, "We'll explain on the way.  
"To where?"  
"Roswell."  
  
As we walked down the streets from the campus, Tyler scurried in and out of the shadows. The way his skin changed to match the surroundings sent shivers up my spine.  
"So, why are we going to Roswell?" I asked.  
"Because that's the location of the infamous 'area fifty-one'." John said in an annoyed way.  
"But why are we going there? I mean, it's not like you guys are..."  
"Aliens?" said Tyler as he seemingly jumped out of nowhere and into my face.  
I jumped back a little in surprise, "I mean, none of that stuff's true, is it?"  
"Oh heavens no," said John, "That's just some daft material spread by the government as a cover up. We are far more outlandish than any 'aliens', trust me. As for how we get there, "he said as I thought the question, "we will travel the least traveled road of the sky." He pulled a small black object with keys attached to it from his pocket and pressed a button on it. A whirring trill echoed from the vacant lot to our left. A shimmering shadow appeared in a large form. It was like a small two seater plane, but with no wings, instead the body of it swept back into a lifting-body design. My stomach did a back flip in anticipation of what it might feel like to fly. "We travel," he continued, "by stealth craft."  
The three of us stepped into the plane (or whatever it was) and sat down in chairs that were reminiscent of an office's desk chair.  
"Ready?" said Tyler while he flicked a few switches and checked a few dials.  
"You might want to buckle up." said John as he clicked his buckle. I was considering weither or not to follow his advice when we lurched upward. I flet the g-force nauseate me. From the curved window in front of John and Tyler, I saw the lot drop away below us.  
"Activating fiber optics." said Tyler as he hit a couple of buttons. An electric blue streak wove itself in an intricate pattern on the surface (both inside and out) of the plane and the window became subtly blurry.  
The sensation of flying felt so unnatural, yet so familiar. It reminded me of one of the few good dreams I used have. I would be soaring through the clouds on my way to some unreachable destination.  
My thoughts of past fantasies were interrupted when the craft dashed forward with such speed that a loud crack like thunder reverberated behind us.  
After my body adapted to the sudden change in speed, I began looking around the cabin. The small space was lined with buttons, switches, and screens. There were four seats, two in the back, and two in the front; therefore, I was in the back right seat and John and Tyler were in the front seats.  
"Now as I was saying," said John as he turned back to face me, "You have special talents. We are from an organization for the detection and enrichment of these talents. More specifically the Agency for the Promotion of the Human Species or the A.P.H.S. I as you have guessed I possess psychic abilities due to amplification of my genetic structure; however, some of us like Tyler are born this way."  
"I," said Tyler as his hands griped the controls," found out that I could change the color of my skin and be as silent as a shadow when I was twelve. The A.P.H.S. tracked me down and offered to help me home my gifts. A similar opportunity is being offered to you."  
"Uh, maybe I missed something but as far as I know I don't have any 'abilities'." I said. Then my mind began to wander, was there anything extraordinarily amazing about me like John or Tyler? I was nowhere near as strong as Darry, nor as handsome as Soda. Even in our gang, I had always felt separated from everyone but Johnny. Johnny, if only he could see me now.  
"You may not be as strong or good looking as your brothers," John said, obviously reading my mind, "but you contain some hidden traits, waiting to be activating by the right stimulus. You see, every human on the planet contains billions of lines of extra, inactivated genes. A very small amount of people, such as us, can have these genes triggered by an outward force. In Tyler's case, it happened naturally due to an event in his life. In your and my cases, we need some help waking the concealed DNA.  
Release that code of GTAC Ponyboy Curtis, and you will be able to do things you can't even imagine. Become one of us, and see Johnny again.  
  
To be continued... 


End file.
